Creature feature - koalas!

 

Koalas are small bear-like, tree-dwelling animals that are native to Australia. They’re marsupials – this means the female has a pouch across her stomach, where her joey (baby) continues to grow for six months after birth. Marsupials only live in Australia and New Zealand and are not native to any other countries. That’s pretty amazing, huh?!

Fur and feet
Koalas have paws that are great for gripping and climbing tree trunks and branches and they have rough pads on their palms and soles. Their thick woolly fur protects them from both high and low temperatures and there is especially a lot of fur on a koala's bottom to provide a 'cushion' for the hard branches it sits on.

Wakey, wakey!
A koala spends an average of eighteen to twenty hours each day resting and sleeping! It might sound like the koala is a very lazy creature, but in fact its low-energy lifestyle matches its low-energy diet. Its daily meal only provides the same amount of energy as the bowl of cereal you have for breakfast. The rest of the koala’s time is spent feeding, moving around, grooming and interacting with other koalas.

Koalas prefer to come out between sunrise and sunset and are most active during the night. This is because in the cooler hours they’re less likely to lose precious moisture and energy than during the hotter daylight hours. The koala is also known for its highly developed sense of smell. This means it can tell the difference between types of gum leaves and whether the leaves are poisonous or not just by sniffing them!

Life in the trees
The koala gets its name from an ancient Aboriginal word meaning ‘no drink’ because it receives over 90% of its hydration from the eucalyptus leaves (also known as gum leaves) it eats, and only drinks when ill or at times when there is not enough moisture in the leaves.

Koalas are the only mammals, other than the greater glider and ringtail possums, that can survive on a diet of eucalyptus leaves. Different species of eucalyptus grow in different parts of Australia, so a koala in Victoria would have a very different diet from one in Queensland. Koalas like a change, too, and sometimes they’ll eat from other trees such as wattle or tea tree. They average about 9kg in weight and can eat up to 1kg of eucalyptus leaves a day. Now that’s a heavy meal!


Did you know? Other Aboriginal names for koalas include: bangaroos, koolewongs, narnagoons and cholos.

Koala’s in danger
Trees help protect koalas from predators and harsh weather, but most importantly they provide them with food. But the forests that grow in better soil, which is where koalas prefer to live, are being chopped down for agriculture and housing. This means koalas end up living in small, isolated patches of poor-quality forest. If a patch of forest is fully occupied, young koalas may also have to find a new home and this means crossing open spaces, including roads, which is very dangerous for them. A lack of suitable food and the stress of the environment they’re living in may also make koalas more likely to catch diseases. The only solution to all these problems is to plant and keep trees for food and shelter in areas where the animals can reach them. It would be a shame if these cuddly creatures were to suffer – or even worse – disappear.
 

Fast fact
The koala was referred to as the koala bear by Europeans when they first came to Australia, but it is not related to the bear family at all.

Head to www.savethekoala.com and find out what’s being done to help them.

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Pictures: Getty Images UK